Dueling Delta

Sometimes your vacation doesn’t go as planned. I certainly didn’t plan on a Category 4 hurricane, named Delta.

In August of 2020, my daughter and I decided to plan a trip to Cancun, Mexico. Our plans were to go to a ‘cheap’ all-inclusive resort so I could write a blog on the experience - You Get What You Pay For. While there we would take a tour of Mayan Ruins and explore some other resorts. You know… A bit of fun and a bit of work. All the best laid plans until…

On Monday, October 5, 2020, I drove to my daughter’s apartment just north of the Atlanta perimeter. I crashed at her apartment the night before our flight and scheduled a Lyft for the next morning to chauffer us to the airport to begin our adventure. She checked the weather and said “Mom, it looks like they are calling for rain during the week.” To which my response was, “It always rains in the Caribbean”. We shut our eyes, wished each other a good night and slept.

Early the next morning, we were delivered to the ATL airport and began the process of flying to Cancun. This particular “bare fare” airline doesn’t offer direct flights so we had a layover at the Fort Lauderdale airport. Not a big deal. Two short flights and we’d be in tropical sunny Cancun. Upon boarding our flight for the last leg of the journey, I noticed a news alert of a hurricane on my phone. Curiosity got the best of me and I clicked it. I turn to my daughter and remarked, “Oh, it seems we may be flying into a hurricane!” So began our true adventure….

Not being our first time in Cancun, we knew the process of getting through the airport quickly, so proceeded on to catch our pre-booked transfer to the hotel. We’re joking about how we are going to hunker down in the bathtub of our resort room and pretend to be those brave weather reporters you see on TV. Boy, did we have no idea what was in store for us.

When we were dropped off at our resort, we entered the lobby to find people everywhere with luggage, blankets, and pillows. Totally, unsure of what was going on, and where to find the check-in counter amongst the crowds, we ambled up to an employee who directed us to reception and began an awkward conversation with the staff member who greeted us there..

Me: Hi, we need to check in!
Staff: Excuse me?
Me: Yeah, we have a reservation.
Staff: Sorry, we don’t have any rooms.
Me: What?
Staff: Yes, you will have to leave.
Me: Why?
Staff: We have no rooms for you.
Me: I don’t understand
Staff: There is a hurricane!
Me: Yes, but can’t we just stay here?
Staff: No, we must evacuate!
Me: …..

And so it went on until it became clear that they couldn’t give me a room because they were evacuating the entire resort in preparation of Hurricane Delta. They verified our reservation, I signed papers, and we were given our bracelets for the all-inclusive package. Then we joined the throngs of other guests who were to be shuttled to a shelter.

After wrapping my mind around our circumstances and calling my husband to update him, my daughter and I took noticed of a couple of ladies who appeared to be American. **Side note: this particular resort caters to primarily Spanish speaking guests** Because I don’t understand the word ‘stranger’, I mosey on up to them and ask, “Do you speak English?” To which they both perk up and spout delightfully, “YES!” We didn’t know at this time that we four would spend the next 24 hours surviving a hurricane together.

All guests were loaded onto chartered busses that would take them to the shelter. My daughter and I had to wait till the last bus because they were loading by room numbers and we, unfortunately, had not been assigned one. While waiting, a lady staff member, who spoke impeccable English, checked to be sure we were okay. I assured her we were good with the exception that we hadn’t eaten since early that morning and it was now after noon. Though she assured me that we would be fed after arriving at the shelter, much to our delight, she went out of her way to find some fruit (picked from trees at the resort), sandwiches, and yogurt.

Vacillating between anxiousness and anticipation of an adventure, we were loaded on the last departing bus and headed into the unknown. After the bus maneuvered down winding narrow streets for about 35 minutes, we pulled up to a catholic church where all other guests had been safely delivered. I am not that I had any idea of what I was expecting, but a church was definitely not it. When we entered the sanctuary, our newly adopted American friends waved us down and showed us to an area they had saved for us to sit. (Who says talking to strangers is always a bad thing?) Approximately 400 guests from two resorts were sitting hip to hip in church pews awaiting for instruction from the resort staff.

Sitting in the humid open air sanctuary, thirsty and tired from our long day of travels and surprises, we waited anxiously to discover what the plan was. Where in the world were they going to put all these people? Announcements were made over the speaker, in Spanish and very broken English, for anyone with health problems to come up front as they would be assigned rooms first. Makes sense… take care of those you need special attention. After that, they started slowing assigning rooms to various groups of people. We asked if our foursome could stay together. “Yes, there are other Americans, would you like to be in their room?” Sure, why not. The more the merrier, right??

Guiding us out and around the building, we were led up an outside set of stairs on a neighboring building, then down a narrow balcony to a concrete and tile room that probably measured 16 ft x 16 ft. There was about 12 old style wooden desks and now a party of 8 very confused Americans. We pull up some chairs and start introductions. If we are going to weather a hurricane together, we might as well get to know each other.

Chatting and getting along quite well, our little mismatched group was expanded with a Mexican family of four. With shelter rooms seeming quite limited, we welcomed them in. This family (mom, dad, brother and sister) seemed quite shy at first but warmed up to our lively group. Who knew you could fall in love with little kids so quickly. They were adorable and the best behaved kids. Mom and 7 yr old brother spoke a bit of English but dad and 3 yr old sister were in the dark to our ramblings.

Finally, a resort staff member announced that dinner was ready, so off we went to get in line for food. The food line was a lot like what I would imagine feeding the homeless looks like. We were handed plates and walked down a line of food offerings. Dinner consisted of a chicken fajita mix (meat and veggies), a creamy pasta with ham, and 2 corn tortillas. Drink options were soda, coffee, juice and bottled water. Not exactly the all-inclusive resort experience I was hoping for but certainly wasn’t going to complain given our circumstances.

After dinner and as the evening proceeded, the feelings of adventure began to dissipate as the resort staff proceeded to board up all the windows on the church buildings housing hurricane refugees. Thankfully, bathrooms were available; small multi-stall outdoor facilities separated by gender. Six beach loungers where carted up to our room for our now party of 12. Then, we were informed that the local government would be cutting all power in the region at 9pm. Everyone needed to be in their rooms and ready to take on Hurricane Delta.

My daughter and I did not have pillows or blankets since we never made it to a room at the resort. All we had were our backpacks and the few items stuffed in there. By 8pm, we passed out from exhaustion, she on the tile floor with her hoodie for her head and myself on a beach lounger with a light jacket as my pillow. Sweet dreams? Nope!

I slept quite hard until just after midnight when resort staff came barging in to find room for a few more refugees. Come morning, I realized there were 24 total in this small room. Most slept on the floor. Comfort is not a priority during emergency situations.

Around 5:30am, I awoke to the sound of rain, wind, flapping metal, and shattering glass. While we were enclosed in a tight dark space away from the storm, it didn’t take much imagination to know what was going on outside. I lay awake for almost an hour watching the radar, and saying prayers for the safety of all in the path of Hurricane Delta. Finally with nothing better to do, I fell back to sleep.

Around 8:30am, they opened our door to a day that held a light rain and small gusts of wind. Quite peaceful compared to the trashing we experienced just a couple hours before. We had survived but badly need to utilize the restroom. So the ladies all broke out and dashed down to the facilities.

Scrambled eggs, black beans and 2 corn tortillas were offered up for breakfast along with small boxed cereals, coffee, and juice. We spent our morning ‘lounging’ around our small concrete shelter, walking around the church grounds, and playing with the little ones.

Later in the day, lunch was served but I’m honestly not sure what it was. I can most likely compare it to some kind of sloppy joe mix, a chopped roast and veggie mix, and, of course, two corn tortillas. By this point, drink options were limited but no one was complaining. We were just glad to have food and shelter.

At 3pm, we were informed that the Mexico National Guard was working on clearing streets and assessing damage to the hotel zone. They hoped to have us back to the resort before dinner. Good news, they did. Just like the transport to the shelter, we were shuttled on busses, in a less orderly fashion, back to the resort.

Upon our return, everyone gathered once again in the main lobby waiting for their rooms to be reset. Keep in mind we never got a room, so once again, we were last in line. Resort staff busied themselves with getting the lobby bar open. Now back to our group of 4, a round of margaritas were enjoyed in celebration of our survival and new found friendship.

With staff focusing on getting everyone resettled into the resort, the buffet was our only option for dinner. After getting our fill of hot food and refreshments, we received our room assignment. Goodnights were quickly exchanged with our friends as the only items on my evening’s activity list were a very long hot shower and an early bedtime.

I’m so thankful for the care and attention given to our safety throughout this event. It was our first, and hopefully last, hurricane experience. I’ve spoken with others who were also in Cancun during the hurricane, though in different resorts, and some of them had better sheltering experiences, but some were worse. While it was not the vacation I had anticipated, I learned a lot through it and now have a great story to share.

For my video retelling of this story, click here. For my post on what to do when travel doesn’t go as planned, click here.

**Since my experience with the resort was quite unusual, I will not be posting a review. Hopefully, next time!**